HOMEMADE BREAD AND BUNS!

I had a request to share the recipe for the oh - so - yummy buns I showed you yesterday.

I actually used a white bread recipe that I have used to make loaves of bread for years.  The recipe will make four loaves of bread, or 3-4 dozen buns, depending on how large or small you want to make your buns.

I really love the process of making bread.  I find it a very pleasant relaxing process, that slows you down somewhat from the hustle and bustle of our active daily lives.  You have to stay home the day you make bread, and you have to pay attention to the process without the aid of timers and reminders that so govern our lives today.

It's a wonderful rainy day activity, one where the rewards of taste and smells that linger long after the activity is over, will elevate your mood like nothing else can.

HOMEMADE BREAD

2 tbsp ( heaping) yeast, dissolved in 1/2 cup water

  (I use 3 packages of the traditional yeast - not fast rising)

3 cups lukewarm water

1/2 cup  milk

1/4  cup white sugar

1/2 cup lard or shortening

4 tsp salt

10-11 cups flour

Measure flour  and salt into a large bowl (the largest mixing bowl you have).

Start yeast by dissolving in 1/2 cup water.

In another bowl, measure and add lukewarm water, milk, white sugar, melted shortening or lard.

Add dissolved yeast mixture to this mixture.

Make a well in the flour and add the liquid mixture a little at a time, mixing it into the flour as you go.  I use my hands ( clean) for this as I don't have a dough mixer.  Continue mixing until all the liquid has been absorbed by the flour.  If the mixture is a bit wet, add a bit more flour until the dough is easy to remove from your fingers.

Form in a large ball, cover and let rise until more than double in size.  I place mine inside my oven. (not a heated oven... a cool one)

When dough has risen - punch down really well, cover and let it rise again.

Prepare your pans for baking.  All pans should be well greased with lard or shortening.

When the dough has risen a second time, punch it down again, work it for a minute or two by punching the air out of it.  Form into four loaves.  

Cover loaves and let rise until double in size

then Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes.

Brush tops of loaves with shortening or butter ( optional)

FOR BUNS:

Do all the same steps up until you form the loaves.  Instead, form your buns into whatever size you want.  Use Muffin tins if your want dinner-roll size, otherwise just form balls with your hands and place on baking sheet.... make sure sheets and pans are well greased.

Cover and let rise until twice the size.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown on top.

Brush tops of buns with shortening or butter ( optional)

Do yourself a favour and have a slice or a bun while still warm.  My favourite - butter and honey on fresh bread -

Oh - that brings back such wonderful memories of eating Mom's fresh bread for an after school treat.

ENJOY!

FOOD AND ACTIVITIES WHILE YOU WAIT FOR SPRING!

Is it really spring?  I sure wish someone would tell the weather it is so!

It's true, our snow has melted and is gone - however, the temperatures continue to be much below seasonal normal, the winds are strong and straight out of the north, and the weather is still reporting wind chill values.

I no longer have my snow boots on, but I still wear a heavy wool coat with a hoodie beneath it, and gloves every morning when I go for my walk.

It's difficult to stay excited about things like gardening and seedlings, when it really feels like one should be filling up the freezer with comfort food, and starting some new knitting projects.

I have done both of those activities in the past week.  I have hauled my crock pot out of the bottom of the cupboard and have been making things like hearty soups and stews, and I have even stooped as low as to baking up a batch of home made rolls to go with my crock pot meals... talk about comfort food!

Check these darlings out!

I can't begin to tell you how absolutely wonderful these taste, and how incredible my house smelled while these were baking!

I still have a large bag of these in the freezer - we are trying to be sensible and not eat more than one a day!

I also began a new knitting project  - this time for myself.

I decided I need a nice warm sweater to wear on my early morning walks.  I have a lot of patterns, so I spent the better part of several days, going through patterns and I managed to narrow my choice down to three patterns.

 I chose to knit this one first , and I am doing it with a mocha coloured yarn than I had in my stash.

I will do the other two as well - once I have this one finished, but I will have to buy yarn for the other two patterns.

All three patterns are from a book I have had for many years.  It is full of really nice knit and crochet patterns, and the pattern sizes all start at large and go right up to 4 X, which is something you seldom find in any knit pattern.

So,  even though the weather is not co-operating I am counting my days towards true spring, in my own way.

I posted a new video on my YouTube channel ( taken yesterday) as well.  Don't forget to click the subscribe button when you are there... 

https://youtu.be/EDBUnj0ieoQ

More tomorrow!

Till then...

AN OPEN HEART WILL FIND THE CONNECTION!

There have been so many times in the last three years that I have had a very strong feeling of my Mother being very near.

A feeling is perhaps not the right way to describe what I am talking about, but I feel her presence as being very close to me at times.

It is a great "feeling" - this feeling I have that I could turn around and see her sitting right there not far from me.  I wish it were so in reality - but today it is 35 years since we last had a real conversation.

To say that I am not the same person today as I was then, is the understatement of all time.  Thirty-five years ago, I was a young single woman, with my whole life ahead of me... I had a career as a registered nurse, my own apartment, independence, and confidence - due in a large part from my Mother, and my Father as well.

It wasn't fair loosing her so early in my life - she and I missed out on so much that a mother and daughter should experience together.   Life led me in a different way, or should I say Death lead me in a different way than I expected -  to experience the rest of my life, without my Mom at my side.

I'm not complaining about my life - it's been as it should be - lived well, lived happily, lived fully.  I have been surrounded by family and friends that have loved and supported me every step of the way... but 35 years later - I am still missing that one person in my life - my Mom.

Until three years ago - I missed her with an unease...
I have always been uneasy with her death.  She was too young, too vibrant, too healthy, I have always had the niggling fear that not enough was done at the time of her death - I have nothing to base that fear on, but it has always been there, just the same.

For some reason unknown to me, living where I do -  I feel a connection to her that I have never experienced before.  This connection I feel has nothing to do with my own personal memories of my mother and the time we had together - this is totally different.

My mother was born and grew up on a prairie farm about 35 minutes from where I now live.  When I drive down the highway towards the place she knew as home - she comes to mind.  When I turn the corner that takes me to what once was a hamlet called Waldersee,  I look to the left, and wonder if her childhood home still stands.  She is in my thoughts in ways she has never been before.

When I drive by the church in Waldersee where she attended church as a young child and woman, I think of her, young and beautiful, smiling and happy.  I did not know her when she was young - but I can now feel her that way.

Maybe it's an aging thing - maybe everyone has these thoughts and feelings as they age.  I am now two years older than my mother was when she left us.  

The unease I used to feel has now turned to comfort.  I feel connected, sure, comforted and peaceful - because I have opened my heart and allowed the connection in.

The past has become the present, we are not only connected through my memories and through our history but now also by place - and somehow that place has made a difference in my understanding of the person my mother was.

She has always been near - I know that now  - and she always will stay near.  My open heart knows - and so do I.

I love you Mom!

Till we meet again!

IT'S HAPPENING!

No more wondering - Spring is here at last!

In the past week we have seen almost all our snow gone.  There is a little bit here and there, but mostly it has vanished.  And truly - vanished is the correct word!

There are no puddles or standing water anywhere on our property - however, some ditches this past week have been very full, and in some places along the highways, there is the occasional flooded field, which I am sure will also disappear quickly once the ground opens up enough - spring runoff aside, as we still are very dry from the past few years drought.

Can you imagine what I have been doing?

I will be honest - I have been driving myself quite mad, walking around the property looking for signs of life - of which there are none.

I have also been plotting and planing this years vegetable and flower gardens.

I have started my tomatoes, peppers and Aunt Molly's ground cherries, and I have really wanted to start other vegetables, but happily there is a smidgen of common sense still left in my Spring induced brain!

I am growing 7 varieties of tomatoes this season:

Centennial Rocket
Prairie Pride
Amish Paste
Purple Russian
Manitoba
Super Sweet Cherry tomatoes
Midnight Snack Cherry tomatoes.

For peppers I am trying:

Blazing Banana ( HOT)
Corbaci (sweet)
Purple Beauty (sweet)

Aunt Molly's ground cherries, are a new crop I am trying, for salads and also for making jams and jellies.

Next seeding of vegetables will be squashes, pumpkins and melons, but that is still a month away, and following that will be cucumbers, cucamelons, and brassicas, shortly after.

In-ground crops will be seeded the third week of May or so, once the danger of frost is past.

In the meantime, there is a lot of bed prep needing to be done, some new beds to create, and lots of cleanup around the property, which will keep me busy for the next six weeks.

And right in the middle of all this outdoor activity, I have had such a urge to knit myself a cardigan.  Where in the world did that thought come from?

So now I need to go yarn shopping... somewhere!

At times like this, I wish I had pursued my original dream of moving to the county and opening a wool shop.  I got it half right - but there still is a real need for a shop that carries wool, yarn and basic handicraft items.

Is this Spring Fever then?

You tell me!

BUNNIES AND BATS!

Here we are back to Monday of a new week once again.  I hope wherever you are, that spring has reached you.

Spring is happening here with a sudden warm up and lots of melting.  The sudden melt is not what anyone has wished for because of very real threats of overland flooding in many areas of the province.   Still, we don't control the weather - all we can do is deal with what is given us.

This morning I was able to walk to the post office in just my running shoes.  No snow boots, not even rubber boots ... yeah!  It kind of felt funny, to tell you the truth!

How was every one's weekend? 

I managed to finish one project that I had started just when my Elna decided to go on the fritz.  This is just something I designed on the fly, mainly to use up some pretty blue scraps, and because I wanted something blue in my dining room to go with my terracotta- coloured walls.

The Elna conked right in the middle of this piece as I was doing the blue daisy stitching around the little saying.  I never did get to finish that stitching all the way around to the bottom of the heart.  My other old machine doesn't do fancy stitches, so I just did a plain stitch in white to complete the bottom of the heart.

Because the heart in the middle of the piece didn't exactly turn out the way I thought it would, I decided to add the three little hearts on the side.  I kind of like how it turned out in the end.

I found a cute pattern for a long eared bunny on Pinterest, so I am in the process if making a couple of little bunnies for the grand-daughters for Easter.  I will also make the girls a few colourful headbands, one can never have too many of those.

Here is the first little bunny, sitting in a pile of ribbons, waiting to have her legs and tail attached.  She is made from pink felt, and the inside of her ears are just a cotton print fabric.   

I think I will do the second bunny in a print fabric.  I did some modifications on the pattern, and  I added my own stitching for the face.  I still need to add a white dot on the eyes to give her some expression.

I made a little Vlog yesterday, just a chat about spring, garden plans, some house ideas, and a surprise visit from a tiny misplaced creature.

so if you are interested here is the link to that.

https://youtu.be/LZGgwbHXo3g

I will talk to you in a few days... enjoy these beautiful spring days!

SPRING MIGHT BE HERE AT LAST!

I do believe spring has finally arrived in our little corner of the world.  I see grass showing in places where the snow was not so deep, and for the past couple of days the snow piles have receded quite a bit.

It makes me realize that I have to get a move on and get stuff finished in the studio, because I will probably be working outside  even before all the snow is melted.

I have so many new things I would like to try, but play time in the studio is running out for me.

One of the things I really want to try is free-motion quilting.  Even though I do not have the right kind of machine to really do this, there are some adjustments I can make to my old machines in order to try to accomplish this task.  For free motion, the feed dogs need to be dropped, and most newer machines have a button you press to do this.   My old machines can be adapted -  I can tape a credit card across the feed dogs so the fabric will be able to be move freely while quilting.  I don't have a free motion quilting foot, but I do have a embroidery foot which is almost the same thing, so I might yet give this technique a try.

I also want to try my hand at fabric painting using Inktense pencils, which are basically a coloured pencil, but when used with a medium will permanently dye fabric, once heat-set with an iron.  This means I could draw or write my own words on fabric and then quilt them into them a project...
I can't wait to try this technique as well -

But first, Dale needs to finish things already started.

Yesterday I managed to finish the other bunting - this one is for our 4 yr old grand daughter.  I love how colourful and bright it is.  I am very pleased with both the banners.  I have never made these before, but would certainly make more sometime.

So here is the second finished bunting, and now I am going to spend the next few days getting rid of the piles of projects on my work tables.

Here's hoping I don't run out of coffee!

I will talk to you again next week... take care, everyone!

 

JUST ONE MORE - I PROMISE!

I think we should get back to some more blue jean projects - don't you?

I'm kidding!

Well maybe I'm just kidding a bit.  I have been working on one more thing using blue Jeans.  I decided to make a couple of banners (bunting-style) for our little granddaughters.  They are going to be for their bedrooms, and because they will soon each have their own rooms,  I decided to put their names on the bunting.

Zhanna is older, so I used blue jeans to make her bunting, and then I embellished each flag with a lot of bling.  I just finished hers up yesterday.

Here's a closer look at each flag.

 

 

Azaria's will be made from brightly coloured and patterned cottons, she too will have her name on hers but less bling because the colours and patterns of the fabric will be the bling.

I am still working on the blue jean purse, and as well I am putting together a very large tote bag from assorted jean scraps, for carrying knitting or stitching projects when I need to transport them along with me.

I don't think I am over the blue jean fever entirely, but once I finish up this projects that I have already started, I may put away the blue jeans for awhile.

My goal in the next few weeks will be to finish up things I have been working on this winter, and tidy up the studio before gardening season truly begins.

I can't wait to be outside all day long!